From: Ann Jones
Columbus
There is a lot of help in the latest coronavirus bills passed by Congress for which I am most grateful. However, the bills have a gaping hole as they leave out the entire rest of the world with no emergency funding beyond the United States.
I have made frequent visits to a Pediatric AIDS program in Zambia, and I know the circumstance there firsthand. The challenges of another virus especially affects women and children. The problems of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria only serve to increase vulnerability along with poverty, food insufficiency, and crowding. One has to wonder how the next $3 trillion bill could forget the rest of the globe. At least 13.5 million children are missing out on lifesaving vaccine.
The number of people facing hunger certainly could double to 265 million by the year’s end; maternal /child deaths will increase as will malaria and AIDS deaths. This will nullify the recent progress we have made globally.
Please make sure that your senators get the message loud and clear. The new bill should reflect an international response in slowing COVID-19. Global challenges are not solved in isolation — they should be solved in partnership with others.
